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Ask A Wedding Planner | Episode 4
15 Plays4 months ago
Planning a wedding comes with timelines, trends, expectations… and a whole lot couples never see coming. In Episode 4 of Behind I Do, we’re doing a full Q&A: Ask Us Anything—with honest answers, behind-the-scenes stories, and a few hot takes we could talk about for hours. 😅
In this episode, we cover:
- How we got started in wedding planning (and the wild way it all began)
- The early-day mistakes that make us laugh now (8-hour packages… for $800 😳)
- Why we stopped doing “everything ourselves” and hired a logistics manager (aka: saving our backs)
- The behind-the-scenes stuff couples never realize planners handle—trash, food, florals, teardown, and getting everything home
- How we take care of your parents + grandparents so they’re not standing in bar lines or missing key moments
- Dream celebrity weddings (yes… Taylor Swift comes up)
- Our biggest hot takes: why a venue coordinator isn’t a wedding coordinator, and why “day-of coordinator” is not a real thing 👀
If you’re engaged, planning, in the wedding industry, or just love hearing what really happens behind “I Do,” this one’s for you.
💬 Got a question you want us to answer next month? DM us on Instagram—we’ll be candid (and gracious) as always.
☕ Grab your coffee, your planning binder, and your confetti… and come behind “I Do.”
#WeddingPodcast #WeddingPlanning #Engaged #WeddingPlanner #BehindIDo #WeddingTips #WeddingIndustry #WeddingHotTakes
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Goals
00:00:00
Speaker
Planning a wedding comes with timelines, trends, expectations, and a whole lot that couples never see coming. We're two wedding planners pulling back the curtain on what really happens behind I do. Each week on Behind I Do, we bring you real talk about real weddings, timelines, trends, the wins, and the what ifs.
00:00:16
Speaker
From the smooth as silk celebrations to the did that actually just happen moments, we're sharing the stories, lessons, and insider knowledge that help couples plan with confidence and maybe even laugh along the way.
00:00:27
Speaker
Whether you're a bridegroom vendor or wedding lover at heart, this is your backstage pass to the world of weddings told candidly, graciously, and with the expertise only seasoned planners can offer. Grab your coffee, your planning binder, and your confetti and join us behind
Host's Journey and Business Beginnings
00:00:42
Speaker
I do. Okay. Episode four.
00:00:46
Speaker
q and a ask us anything. Here we go. Here we go. Question number one. You ready? What was the moment you realized you wanted to start a wedding planning company? Oh, I mean, i think in well, not in a way, it kind of was gifted to me, I suppose you could say. I don't know if that's the right word.
00:01:05
Speaker
Because I was actually a teacher. was a special ed teacher and I was helping babysit for this gal and she wanted to start a wedding planning company and she came to me and was like, you want to do this together? And I was like, I mean, I feel like I'd be really good at that. And yeah, and then...
00:01:26
Speaker
We just jumped in and here we are. It's pretty crazy. It was crazy. Which, yeah. I mean, because I was in business with her for a year and then bought her out and brought on Allie and Amy.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Pretty crazy. It was just a wild ride. She just said, do you think you want to be a wedding planner? Well, I didn't say I did you think. I said, you're joining me because I can't do it alone. is what's You're going to be a wedding planner. Yeah. And the rest is history. It's all worked out very well. And I quit my full-time job two years ago.
00:01:55
Speaker
Was it two years? Three. So see, look at us go. i knew I told you I'd be good at it. She's very good at it. What's something we did in the early days that makes us laugh now?
00:02:10
Speaker
ah I feel like there's a lot. I mean, one that actually just came to me was when we used to limit how much time we were at a wedding day, which all you planners out there that do that.
00:02:22
Speaker
Bad idea. It's terrible. Like it's. I mean, i can remember our very first wedding. We said we would only be there for eight hours and we only charged ice so at the time. I think it was like eight hundred dollars. Yeah. Which a that pricing just makes me want to vomit. But be like realistically, eight hours is not enough time to do our job. Like.
00:02:44
Speaker
truthfully, like any planner out there that puts like a time limit on their packages, I just, I wouldn't hire them because I just feel like our goal is that like, no matter what, like our team is there start to finish. Like, I mean, typically where they're 12 hours, sometimes it's 14, but it's like our couples trust us because they know that we will be the first ones there, the last ones out. And it's like, everything will be executed seamlessly.
00:03:09
Speaker
So that's something I laugh about that. It's just like, we to be We had like an eight hour package, a 10 hour package. Totally.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
00:03:16
Speaker
Another funny thing, which it's like not funny because at the time we were just new and like green, but we set up all of our own tables and chairs. Oh, like the three of us female owners just knocked it out. And when you set up.
00:03:31
Speaker
150 ceremony chairs and then you have to move them to the dinner and then you have to tear them down at the end of the night and put them away or put them in a trailer and also then manage the day and like look like you're put together and not hate your life yes it's pure chaos so one of the best things we ever did was hire coyote our logistics manager he is the muscle behind capital occasions and he saved our backs our like literally yeah literally That is probably something too, that's always been very important to us. Is it like, that's another thing I could go down tangent of like the wedding planners that it's like all a cart and you can add all these things on. And I want us to feel like a very, like it's all inclusive. Like it's all or nothing. Like that's what we do. Set up and teardown is included because it's,
00:04:18
Speaker
It should be, in my opinion. It's like nobody else should be setting up because we're the ones who knows where it goes. So it's always been important us to include that. But yeah, we like physically it was I mean, like it was literally before we even had a team, it was just the three of us.
00:04:33
Speaker
And like the three of us at every single wedding, they're the whole time like dying. Dying. And then we got smart and. We learned. We learned. We also, i used to wear heels at the start of the day, just really looking professional, set up to tear down real quickly. Learned that's not going to work well. So you'll now see me in heels at ceremony start time through the end of dinner. Yeah.
00:04:57
Speaker
And then back to my work yeah outfit. Yeah. I mean, there's, I mean, so many. So many things. I mean, another big one is we use, I mean, we, we still do it. We're like, yes, people.
00:05:09
Speaker
And we're also, for those of you who don't know, family owned, like Allie's my sister-in-law, Amy's my mom. Like we just... Like we are family. Like we want every couple we work with to feel like family and we just never want to say no.
00:05:23
Speaker
So we have learned a lot what to say no to and like what should be in our contract that we don't do. Like gotten over a head a lot of time. It makes. Yeah. Well, it makes me laugh. Also, the one time that we were I was on like a 12 foot ladder.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yep. Hanging bistro
Client Relationships and Service Quality
00:05:38
Speaker
lights. Bistro lights. And my dad had to come by to like bring us something and literally was like, what the ah bleep are you doing? And like nobody was like holding the ladder or you were on the ladder. We can do it. Like yeah why not? And then we're like, oh, like liability insurance. Yeah. We probably shouldn't be on ladders. We've gotten smarter. Yeah. Driving U-Hauls for the couple. That is they booked and then they loaded the decor. We're driving it like literally.
00:06:04
Speaker
Probably like if we get in a wreck, like it's not even under our name. I mean, but again, it's like we've learned like where do we say no to or how can we like then guide them? Compromise. Yeah. Find a better solution. But again. Taking people's dogs home.
00:06:17
Speaker
We have because there's no one to take the dog home. And so we're like, we'll do it. I'm sure we'll do it. We'll do anything for you. So there's, I mean, that ah also could be its own podcast. What are the things that we said the yesterday and should have said no to? What's one thing couples don't realize planners handle behind the scenes?
00:06:35
Speaker
everything yeah a lot I mean i don't know i mean i feel like we've already talked a little bit on one of the podcasts like taking the trash out I mean again I think that's something it sounds so dumb but it's just a true thing to do it like somebody has to take the trash on a lot of the venues here are like unlock you weren't responsible and yeah it's I mean that's like a big thing couple's job to like clean take the trash out I would say something that like people are always surprised about when we ask them is like, who's going to take home the food and like coordinating all those end of the night details of like, you guys brought three truckloads of decor, flowers. Where's it going? Where's it going? Like who is getting it home? think prompting them for that is like a big thing that people are like, yeah oh, I didn't even think about that. We always make sure that like your people are ready for the next thing in your timeline. So that is like huge. Like, so your mom doesn't miss her dance with her son or something like that. We make sure that like all of that's pre-planned.
00:07:34
Speaker
Well, and even another big thing, even with like tear down like flowers, like people like you didn't bring the flowers. So nobody thinks about are the flowers getting home? Because again, here in Idaho, lot of the florists don't strike unless you- Striking is coming back at the of the night and take them. Taking all their Which we've learned in the last year or two what that even was because just was not a common thing here. And so a lot of the florists don't do it unless they're paid to do it.
00:08:00
Speaker
So we do it. So it falls on us. And so then it falls on the couple. And we're like... I mean, i always tell couples, even if you only had one car of decor that you brought, like you always need two cars at the end of the night because one's going to be filled with florals. Yep. Your stuff doubles throughout the day. Yeah. like Easily. i mean, you get gifts and you get...
00:08:18
Speaker
All these things that you need to get home. But yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think if there's any other, i mean, I don't know. I feel like there's so many things. Yeah. I mean, there's always like when we tell even families or at the end of the night groomsmen are like, oh, let me help you with teardown. I always say, no, thank you so much for offering. That's so sweet. But yeah, go get on the bus, go party, go enjoy your night because we handle everything start to finish yeah and we don't need your
Dream Weddings and Industry Insights
00:08:42
Speaker
help. So but another one I just thought of too, that lot of couples that I feel ah hear we get feedback a lot is like,
00:08:49
Speaker
Yes, the bride groom is like our main priority, but like also like we're really big on like, like we said, making sure the mom's there for the dance. was also making sure the mom and dad aren't standing in a bar line. Like if I see or grandparents, like I've seen that and I literally I'm like, what do you want? And I go up to the front of the bar and I get like line and give them a drink. Totally. Or like if they haven't like, cause they're talking too much and they had, they missed their like table that went to get food. Like we'll like go get their food or just like really making sure that their family is like taken care of. Yeah. Which a lot of our couples are like, that just meant so much to us. So like, you know, my 90 year old grandpa was standing in the bar line. You let him go sit down and brought him a drink. Like totally. Or one of my brides, she was like, oh my shoes are under the table. And I had brought her backup dance shoes because I just knew her feet had to be killing her. And she was just so surprised when, She like saw her shoes under there. Yeah.
00:09:37
Speaker
Everything. We do everything behind the scenes. Okay. We're both going to have very different answers for this. Dream celebrity you'd die to plan a wedding for. i mean, gosh.
00:09:49
Speaker
Do you have Obviously, Taylor Swift. Well, of course. Because I'd love to meet her. I think she's the sweetest human on the face of planet. Her family seems wonderful. Travis seems great. I'd love to meet his brother and his wife.
00:10:02
Speaker
I just think they'd be like the most down to earth, but also high maintenance couple. ever And they'd have an unlimited budget. So I can't even imagine. oh my gosh. That would be wild. How fun it'd be. And like a whole, I bet it's a whole week. It's not a wedding weekend. Like where Most normal people do. It's like.
00:10:18
Speaker
Oh yeah. Start to finish. Private jets. Security. be pretty wild. So fun. I don't know. i mean, obviously, instantly, my response was going to be Pitbull. Because again, if you know me, like, I love Pitbull. But I don't know. i don't know if I would like that experience.
00:10:37
Speaker
so Because I just feel like, I don't know, he'd have a lot of like half naked women dancing at his wedding. So I don't know. you change your perspective on him too much? I don't know. That's like a tricky one. I'm trying to think if there were any other...
00:10:54
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, it celebrities that i are like, I think then like actresses, like I think like Julia Roberts is like this most beautiful, sweetest person. so I think she would be like super fun to work with.
00:11:06
Speaker
Again, I feel like she would be like have a lot of money, but I just get the vibe that she would be pretty, i don't know, more chill, like fun to work with. no I don't know. I feel like I could think on that more, but we'll go with those two answers. That's a good question. and What's a hot take you wish every couple should know?
00:11:28
Speaker
Hot take every couple should know. The venue coordinator is not wedding coordinator. Should we go down that rabbit hole? That's my hot take. Just take it for what you will, but they work for the venue and that's their client.
00:11:42
Speaker
And you need someone who works for you and you're their client. 100%. hundred percent um Oh, I guess my hot take, we all know my hot take would be, there's no such thing as a day of coordinator.
00:11:53
Speaker
Please, dear Lord above, have everyone stop calling it that. and Which again, I mean, both those hot takes, 100% we should write down as like a full podcast because there's so much to unravel there.
00:12:07
Speaker
So much. But like I could talk about both of them for like hours and I get real heated.
00:12:16
Speaker
That's it for Q&A.
Listener Engagement and Future Plans
00:12:18
Speaker
If you guys have other questions and you want us to answer it, feel free to shoot us a DM on Instagram. We're happy to answer truthfully. And think we're going to try to do these once a month. Yeah, I like it. Just, you know, give our honest answers.
00:12:35
Speaker
All right. See you next time. chairers Cheers.